Thoughts of working from home

We all know that this current pandemic has affected us in so many ways, some more than others. And one aspect that is still being fussed about is the opportunity that some have regarding something that was once a policy: working from home.

If you were like me, you were sent immediately to follow this policy and I was thrilled that the company decided to do so even before it was a governmental mandate. It demonstrated that the higher-ups cared about us.

I was delighted… I thought I could be more proactive since there weren’t many people around me watching my every move. I thought it could even be more relaxed while still getting the job done and so much more.

But oh was I wrong, the time wasted from other people having breaks at the office, turned out to be long hours of daily meetings.

I worked as an architectural designer for a retailer and the meetings required turned out to be such a handful that I barely had the time to achieve my goals. There were meeting within the Architectural Team, with the Management Team, with the Designer Team, with Expansion, with the directors, etc.

At some point, I had a burn-out…from having meetings! Of course, some meetings were perfectly needed but the vast majority weren’t. I thought that it was only to check on us but if you were reasonable, you could also do that as we achieved our goals.

With this being said, some may think that they NEED to work at the office to be more effective and proactive.

I know it was a very quick adjustment that we all had to do and we still have to think about the new variant. In Mexico, we are in the fourth wave and it’s getting worse. This work-at-home policy still needs to be standing. I know companies may lose some good KPIs, but we are in a situation we have never been before.

Business Insider has mentioned that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data, from the 35% of people required to work from their homes, now it’s only 14%.

As you have noticed, some jobs can be performed 100% without even being in the office but others don’t have that likelihood. What I still know is that because of this pandemic, some companies are understaffed and still need to be careful about their opportunities. In a Morning Consult survey, the outcome was that 39% of workers would consider leaving their work if there wasn’t the flexibility to work from home.

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I recommend that in any situation you’re in, to be always mindful of your actions. Having a decent job is difficult to find nowadays and not everybody has that opportunity, but you still need to prioritize your health and your loved ones.

Unfortunately, the company that was mentioned before, decided to fire me because they thought that the Architectural team didn't have anything to do in the firsts months of the work-from-home policy. Man… were they wrong, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

I then had the opportunity to find a temporary job that doesn’t require me to be in the office, so right now I’m in the process of achieving other professional and even personal goals.

Everybody has to have their goals determined. It may seem like a cliché, but it's true. You will not know what makes you happy if you don’t get to work on it too. Balance in all aspects is a must.

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Reference:

Ayelet Sheffey and Madison Hoff, “This may be the end of the work-from-home economy”, Business Insider, 2 July

2021https://www.businessinsider.com/working-from-home-declining-june-jobs-report-remote-in-person-2021-7?r=MX&IR=T